1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to wire guides, and more particularly to a rotatable wire guide, for use with a spool of wire, that adjusts to the direction in which wire is pulled from a spool.
2. Description of the Related Art
Wire management is a common problem for electricians especially when wiring houses and buildings. Normally more than one person is needed on a wiring job to help keep spooled wire from entangling. Spools of wire are tethered to a spindle or rod to prevent the spools from becoming mobile as the wire is pulled off the spool. However, the spindle does not prevent wires from becoming tangled. A device is desired that will allow wire to be dispensed in any direction and in an orderly manner without becoming entangled.
U.S. Pat. No. 986,020, issued to Mills on Mar. 7, 1911, describes a wire feeder. The feeder has an arm that rotates between two cones of wire to dispense wire through a tube. The arm uses guide wheels to properly direct the wire from one of the cones to the tube.
U.S. Pat. No. 1,834,159, issued to King, Jr. et al on Dec. 1, 1931, describes a wire holder. The holder comprises of a frame that surrounds a coil of wire and a hub that is disposed on a post on the frame and an upwardly flared bell-shaped wire guide supported by the hub. Pulling the wire through the wire guide dispenses the coiled wire.
U.S. Pat. No. 2,022,409, issued to Mott on Nov. 26, 1935, describes a twine dispenser. The dispenser comprises of a casing that holds a roll of twine around a spindle. A strand of twine exits the casing through a guide aperture found in a hinged lid of the casing.
U.S. Pat. No. 2,437,630, issued to Williams et al. on Mar. 9, 1948, describes a wire pay-off mechanism. The mechanism uses a motor driven wind-up reel to unwind and draw wire from a coil through two wire guides onto the reel.
U.S. Pat. No. 2,935,274, issued to Pearson on May 3, 1960, describes a controlled wire reel pay off device. The device has at least one radial and outward projecting annular wire-retaining end flange to allow the wire to be payed-off axially to the reel. Guides are disposed concentrically on a flange of the reel circumjacent a wire retaining end flange on the end of the reel from which the wire is being payed-off.
U.S. Pat. No. 3,010,674, issued to Dull et al. on Nov. 28, 1961, describes a wire take-off device. The wire is coiled on a rack that is mounted on a support. The take-off device comprises a platform having a stationary support for the rack, a stand having a transversely extending arm that holds a member through which wire is dispensed from the coil.
U.S. Pat. No. 3,381,925, issued to Higuchi on May 7, 1968, describes a tiedown fitting for ship decks. The device comprises a shank member having an upper end with a ring for connection of a tiedown means and a lower end that is inserted through an opening on a floor. A spring biased washer is slidably mounted on the shank member to engage the upper surface of the floor panel.
U.S. Pat. No. 3,425,647, issued to Kovaleski et al. on Feb. 4, 1969, describes a wire-take off device. The device is in the form of a turnable wheel rotatably mounted coaxially with and flat against the end of a spool. Wire is dispensed across the side of the wheel and goes into a guide button, which is coaxial with the spool and wheel. A plurality of tines extends from the guide button to control the movement of the wire as it is dispensed.
U.S. Pat. No. 3,469,801, issued to Hauck et al. on Sep. 30, 1969, describes a device for unwinding wire from a reel. The device uses a motor driven drive reel to pull wire from a reel. A bracket is disposed between the drive reel and a utilization device through which wire passes from the drive reel to the utilization device.
U.S. Pat. No. 3,692,254, issued to Ebert et al. on Sep. 19, 1972, describes a strand guiding apparatus. The apparatus is a vertical pay off machine that withdraws a strand from a horizontally disposed coil into a machine. The wire is stretched past guide means used to avoid formation of kinks in the drawn strand.
U.S. Pat. No. 3,815,844, issued to Wright et al. on Jun. 11, 1974, describes a method and apparatus for unwinding coiled material. The apparatus comprises a rotatable platform that supports a coil of material, a drive means that rotates the platform. A guide mounted on an arm receives and dispenses the coiled material. The arm moves from a first to a second position based on the outfeed of the wire.
U.S. Pat. No. 4,074,871, issued to Stotler on Feb. 21, 1978, describes a method and apparatus for handling strands. The invention relates to roving or beaming operation in which a strand is produced by gathering strands from a plurality of feeder packages. A sensing means senses the passage and cessation of the strand from the feeder package and adds a strand from an auxiliary feeder package.
U.S. Pat. No. 4,143,832, issued to Platt on Mar. 13, 1979, describes a thread dispenser. The dispenser generally comprises a mounting means for a ball of thread, an axle on the mounting means disposed between two arms and a thread guide fairlead disposed on a support shaft; the shaft is then mounted to the axle.
U.S. Pat. No. 5,007,597, issued to Jones on Apr. 16, 1991, describes an automatic dispenser for elongated flexible coiled elements. The dispenser has a motor to rotate a spool and control the actuation and speed of the dispensation of the spool and two guides to help dispense the wire. The first guide rotates about an axis of rotation of a carrier to easily pull off the wire from the spool. The second guide is mounted on a frame and is a distance from the first guide. The guides cooperate to adjust the speed at which the motor dispenses the wire.
European Patent Number 372,626, published on Jun. 13, 1990 and U.S. Pat. No. 5,028,013, issued to Anseel on Jul. 2, 1991, describes a wire take-off apparatus. The apparatus rests on a flange of a spool and consists of two annular elements used to guide and dispense wire from a spool.
U.S. Pat. No. 5,516,059, issued to Gudgeon et al. on May 14, 1996, describes an electrical wire spool guide. The guide comprises two side plates that are oriented in the same plane having adjustable length guide bars between the plates at a first and second end. The plates can be disposed on a spindle to surround the outer portion of flanges on a spool. The adjustable length guide bars guide wire as it is dispensed from the spool and prevents wire from tangling.
U.S. Pat. No. 6,616,090, issued to Stamps on Sep. 9, 2003 describes a wire supply apparatus for feeding wire. The assembly comprises a wire supply control assembly and a wire feeder arm assembly. The wire supply control assembly holds a coiled wire and possesses an arm having routing rings. The wire feeder arm assembly also possesses retaining rings and is adjustable. The wire may be directed through both arms to be ready for use.
British Patent Number 2,101,085, published on Jan. 12, 1983, describes a filament pay off device. The device comprises two flanges disposed on a spool flange that sandwiches an elastic band. A wire from a spool is threaded over one flange under the elastic band and over the other flange. The elastic band keeps the wire close to the flanges and brakes the wire due to the action of the band.
British Patent Number 2,161,506, published on Jan. 15, 1986, describes a pay-off apparatus. The apparatus comprises a frame to hold a bobbin, a spinner disc mounted to rotate on one end of the bobbin, radiating bristles mounted on the axis and a guide disposed through the disc. The wire passes from the bobbin through the guide up to a die unit disposed on the frame of the apparatus that creates tension on the wire being pulled from the bobbin.
None of the above inventions and patents, taken either singly or in combination, is seen to describe the instant invention as claimed. Thus a wire spool guide assembly solving the aforementioned problems is desired.